Perceived Discrimination and Integration

Last registered on September 12, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Perceived Discrimination and Integration
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014208
Initial registration date
August 29, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 12, 2024, 5:19 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Oslo

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
The Frisch Centre
PI Affiliation
NTNU
PI Affiliation
The Frisch Centre
PI Affiliation
Dartmouth College

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-09-11
End date
2026-02-06
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Refugees’ sense of social integration will be low if discrimination and/or perceived discrimination is widespread. In this study we use unique Norwegian survey data combined with administrative data to examine determinants of perceptions as well as determinants of integration. We will further estimate the causal relationship between perceptions of discrimination and sense of inclusion. In the study, which targets the full population of UN refugees in Norway, we map personal experiences with discrimination and experimentally provide information treatments on the extent of discrimination against minorities, and study how these variables shape sense of belonging and exclusion. This pre-plan describes how we will analyze the data from the information treatments.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bratsberg, Bernt et al. 2024. "Perceived Discrimination and Integration." AEA RCT Registry. September 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14208-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Respondents are randomized into two groups:

Group A receives the question preamble “Recent Norwegian studies show that employers and landlords discriminate against applicants with foreign-sounding names". The treatment is indicated in italics.

Group B receives the question preamble “Recent Norwegian studies show that most employers and landlords do not discriminate against applicants with foreign-sounding names. The treatment is again indicated in italics.
Intervention Start Date
2024-09-11
Intervention End Date
2024-11-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
To measure whether the treatment have an effect on perceptions of discrimination, respondents are asked:
• How widespread do you think discrimination is in Norway?
The respondents are asked to choose between 4-categories: Very widespread, somewhat widespread, not very widespread, not widespread at all. We standardize the variable to have mean 0 and standard deviation 1.


Our second main outcome is an index of belonging. Respondents are asked three questions on their sense of belonging:
• To what degree would you like to have more social contact with native Norwegians?
• If you think about your social life, work situation, and access to public services, to what degree do you feel excluded in Norway?
• How connected do you feel with Norway?

For the first two statements, the respondents are asked to choose between 5-categories, ranging from 1-5: To a very large degree, To a large degree, Somewhat, To a small degree, Not at all. For the third statement the categories also range from 1-5 and are: I do not feel a connection at all, I feel a weak connection, I feel a moderately close connection, I feel a very close connection, I feel an extremely close connection. We reverse code the answers to the first statement and then create an additive index, which we standardize to have mean 0 and standard deviation 1.

We measure behavior by asking whether respondents would like to donate to The Norwegian Center against Racism. The survey question reads:
After the survey, the research project organizing this survey will donate NOK 10,000 to a charitable cause. All respondents, including you, can vote for which organization will receive the donation. The charity that gets the most votes will receive a donation of NOK 10,000. Which organization do you give your vote to?
Alternative 1 Norwegian Centre Against Racism (Antirasistisk senter)
Alternative 2 Norwegian Refugee Council (Flyktninghjelpen)
Alternative 3 Norwegian Cancer Society (Kreftforeningen)
Alternative 4 Norwegian Rescue Dogs (Norske redningshunder)

We code the variable: Donation to the Norwegian Center against Racism to equal one if they vote for alternative 1 and zero otherwise.

We measure preferences for segregated living by answering 2 on the question:
Suppose you were choosing where to live. Which of the three types of areas would you ideally wish to live in?
o An area where almost everyone were born in Norway 1
o An area where almost everyone were born outside of Norway 2
o An area where about half were born in Norway and half were born outside Norway 3
o It would make no difference where people were born 4

We measure trust in Norwegians based on the following survey question:
On a score of 0-10 how much you personally trust each of these types of individuals. 0 means you do not trust an individual at all, and 10 means you have complete trust.
… People born in Norway?

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Respondents will be randomized to Groups A or B using simple randomization (equal probabilities of assignment), as build into the software used by Statistics Norway.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
5000-8000 Individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
5000-8000 Individuals, or conservatory 4740 with a 15 percent response rate.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2370 in Treatment.
2370 in Control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Conservatively assuming a response rate of only 15 percent, the survey data will include 4740 individuals. Accounting for testing 5 hypotheses the minimum detectable effect is less than 0.1 of a standard deviation of the outcomes.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Frisch Centre
IRB Approval Date
2024-04-04
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Preplan Perceived Discrimination and Integration

MD5: 092a3b1dacd9aa9ee9aa1382f9ecfb51

SHA1: 4d194f692e9091e4ae96c2c18a4fc051ddb4b1da

Uploaded At: August 29, 2024